Canada holds more than 10% of the world's standing forests and is the world's leading exporter of timber products. Timber companies that extract resources are legally required to replenish the land from which they extract their timber (standing trees). Each year over 400,000 hectares of land are replenished by seasonal tree planting workers who plant each individual tree by hand.
The task of tree planting is extremely difficult and can be very damaging to the body. Common types of injuries amongst tree planters include hand, wrist and forearm injuries. These injuries are a direct result from the high impact force that results from a tree planter thrusting a tree-planting shovel into the earth. The force of impact which results from thrusting a shovel into the earth is extremely damaging to the body. The majority of the impact is absorbed by the users palm of the hand and wrist. This motion which can occur between 1500 and 4000 times per day can cause some serious problems for the worker and often forces workers to take days off to heal and even leave the profession due to such serious injury.
The repetitive task of tree planting results in several injuries for the workforce employed. Research suggests that 90% of tree planters will sustain some form of a work related injury over the course of their career, as reported in Smith, T. J. (1987). Occupational characteristics of tree planting work. Silviculture Magazine, 2 12-17.
As reported in Cobb, T. K., An, K.-N., & Cooney, W. P. (1995), Externally applied forces to the palm increase carpal tunnel pressure, The Journal of Hand Surgery, 20A(2), 181-185, given that high repetition-high force occupations involving use of the hand are strongly associated with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), it is not surprising that tree planters often report hand, wrist and forearm pain. Wrist pain is one of the most commonly reported complaints among tree planters and has become a large contributor to lost work-time in the tree planting industry as reported in Denbeigh, K., Slot, T. R., & Dumas, G. A. (2013), Wrist postures and forces in tree planters during three tree unloading conditions, Ergonomics, 56(10) 1599-1607.
The overextension of the wrist is a highly common occurrence amongst tree planters and can cause a variety of injuries.
Various examples of prior art wrist supporting devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,837,641 by Hoffman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,087 by Backich et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,620 by Shelly, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,735 by Latouche.
Wrist braces currently on the market are either not suited for use with shovel handle, or when intended for supporting a tool are not strong enough to hold the wrist in the proper neutral position.
Extensive searching in the market place has failed to locate a product that would address the issues discussed.